MANITOWOC - While many believe the "War on Drugs" is ongoing, Lt. Dave Remiker said the war has already been lost and it is time to start thinking of different solutions for drug addiction.

Remiker heads the Manitowoc County Metro Drug Unit and spent Thursday night talking about drug addiction in Manitowoc to an enthusiastic crowd as part of the Drug Addiction 101 event at Global Arts Manitowoc. He said in his 24 years in law enforcement — almost half of it spent in narcotics — the drug problem has never been worse than it is now.

“Me and my investigators, who I have the utmost gratitude for, we can’t do it alone,” Remiker said. “We are not going to arrest our way out of this problem. We need your help, we need the employers’ help, we need the community, we need the mayor, we need the police chief, we need the public defender’s office, we need the district attorney, we need the jail and the jail administrator. We need all of you to fix this problem, trust me. That is how big this problem is.”

While he acknowledged he and the Metro Drug Unit play an important role in enforcing drug laws, the drug problem itself likely won’t get any better until people start to accept drug addicts into the community.

“There is a stigma attached to drug addiction and until that changes and we start accepting these individuals as members of our community, who can provide a service, who can provide friendships, who can provide a sense of belonging and a sense of being recognized and that sense of being cared about,” Remiker said.

He said he used to struggle with his own way of thinking about drug addicts. He used to believe drug addicts made the choice to use and abuse drugs and they could make the choice to stop if they wanted. However, after working with narcotics in local law enforcement, he said he believes addiction is a disease and needs to be treated as such.

Remiker said the difference in support, such as health insurance and social connections, for drug addicts is not nearly as strong as it is for people with cancer. He said he believes addicts need to be supported in a similar way by the community if they are going to have a chance at turning their lives around.

“Are we fighting the drugs, or are we fighting the way people think?” he asked the crowd. “Are we fighting the drugs, or are we fighting the mental health issues that people have that get them into drug addiction?”

According to Remiker, Manitowoc is unique because the people who live in the communities care and they want to do things differently. He said increasing the mental health network would have the biggest impact in treating Manitowoc’s drug problem.

“We have such a shortage of mental health counseling and such a shortage of mental health funding in our community and in every single community that we live in,” Remiker said. “When we start fixing that problem, the drugs are no longer going to be the problem.”

Two other events are scheduled in the Drug Addiction 101 series, one on April 27 and the other on May 4. Manitowoc County Coroner Curt Green will speak about his experience April 27 and the third event will feature the Manitowoc County EMT First Responder Units.

For both events, the doors open at 6 p.m. and the program begins at 7 p.m.